The saying goes ‘God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers’ but what if the person is tired of being strong?
Traumatic events have rippled across my life for as long as I can remember.
Although, at the time I never realized how bad the situations were until I got older and most of them could of probably been prevented by better judgment on my end.
As I’ve gotten older and have noticed changes within myself, I’ve decided to look more in depth on the effects too much trauma has on a person.
Dissociation or losing touch with reality is a trauma response where one is able to disconnect from their feelings, memories, or sense of identity.
This allows the person to put a bandaid on their wounds temporarily and it could look as simple as looking off into the distance or disengaging in a conversation.
Another trauma response is complete emotional shut down in which the person is able to protect themselves from the overload of negative emotions.
During an emotional shut down the nervous system is immobile meaning no motivation or movement.
The person most likely will have a blank expression and isn’t feeling anything except numbness.
When a person avoids physical contact and starts socially isolating it could be a huge indicator that they are having a difficult time.
Traumatic events can cause survivors to have a big emotional response to something seemingly small.
This is a clear sign that your nervous system is overloaded.
When you’re living with a lot of stress and stored trauma your capacity to regulate your emotions is already almost full.
This mean all the other added stressors through every day life like finances, lack of sleep, work, etc will push you over your limit and you cannot regulate your emotions.
The brain of people who have experienced trauma is chemically different then people who haven’t.
People who have been diagnosed with PTSD or CPTSD are technically considered neurodivergent.
These people were not born neurodivergent but they acquired forms of neurodiversity due to response of the traumatic event.
The trauma effects the person to such a large degree that it changes your brains chemistry and ability to communicate.
Common symptoms of PTSD or CPTSD include memory loss, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, difficulty regulating emotions, mood swings, difficulty making decisions, anxiety, and impulsivity which also are all signs of neurodiversity.
Your body will keep score in the central nervous system where encoded in the tissues of the brain.
This means your body got stuck in a chronic state of dysregulation trying to survive the traumatic events.
Getting stuck in thoughts of shame and sadness is normal.
It’s important to find something that helps you refocus like reading, painting, working out, etc.
Always remember to be compassionate with yourself.
If you wouldn’t be that hard on others, do not be that hard on yourself.
Healing from trauma does not happen overnight, it’s a journey so it’s important to embrace the process.
It might not feel like you are progressing with your healing but you need to focus on taking your time and not quitting your journey.
Don’t rush the process.